Deal photographer Harold Chapman will be following an auction closely at a big London auctioneers when his iconic pictures of Paris and the Beat Hotel go under the hammer.

He took the shots of William Burroughs and Allen Ginsbert, known as the 'beat poets' in the late 1950s and early 1960s and they were featured in an exhibition in London in the summer.

An extensive archive of images, the single largest collection of Harold's material in private hands, is now to be offered for sale at Bonhams by private treaty.

Harold, 83, said: "Just when I thought I was going to have a nice quiet time after my last successful exhibition of the Beat Hotel at the Proud Chelsea gallery in August, and interviews for radio and the national newspapers it has all started up again - much to my surprise."

A selection of Harold's collection to go under the hammer is on show at the auction house, New Bond Street, until January 11, and features 108 photographs of Paris. The show coincides with Bonhams' Urban Art sale on January 11.

* For full story buy the Mercury, December 30 edition.